Archive for Web Design
When to Say No to Stock Photos
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It’s just too convenient.
You know exactly what I’m talking about. You need an image for a website, a flier, whatever. Organizing the resources and timing to get actual photography seems to daunting. So enters stock photography.
Stock photography no doubt has its place. I’ve used a lot of services, and more times than not settle with Shutterstock unless I need to get really picky (their $249 for a month is hard to beat).
But David Meerman Scott has put things into perspective fairly well in his rant on visual gobbledygook. In his words,
Why not just use real people on your site? How innovative! Use real employees in a real conference room to represent your employees in a conference room! Damn. Why didn’t we think of that? And use your real customers too.
Stock Photography – Yes or No?
I have to admit, I’ve seen the same images used on the same websites repeatedly. But even if I hadn’t, we all know stock photography when we see it. The unrealistic gatherings around the conference table. The over-the-top hand shake. The too-perfect embrace in a sunlit field.
Why won’t real pictures of real people work for your real customer? Is it really that hard to buy a good camera and capture exactly what you’re communicating?
Stock photography might be hitting its peak. It could be experiencing the law of diminishing returns.
So, what say you? When should you use stock photography, and when should you stray?
“Coming Soon” = Not Our Specialty
Posted by: | CommentsI stumbled across this New Jersey marketing company’s website as I was surfing tonight. I think it is a pretty informative site that explains the company well until I clicked on this link about PR.
In case you didn’t click it, it just says “coming soon.”
Every other menu item contains a full description on the area of marketing expertise the company provides. Market research. Strategic Planning. Even Commercial Printing.
But not Public Relations.
So, do you hesitate at all in trusting these guys with your PR needs? I do. If anything, the “coming soon” tells me that PR is what they are the weakest at. In fact, my guess is they’ve just thrown it in there because it rounds out their services; it’s expected of a “full-service” marketing company.
My advice: Write something about how you approach PR fast (I mean, isn’t this kind of a PR opportunity for your company?) or don’t build the webpage.
Better advice: Just drop it altogether. If it’s not your area of expertise, let it go. My impression is you’re really good at the other stuff, so leave it at that. Find someone to refer your clients to. It will actually make you more valuable to them, not less. Providing services that you’re not an expert in is what lowers your value.
Related posts on Brett’s Blog
Great Webpage Design
Posted by: | CommentsChris found the WebDesignerWall’s 50 Best CSS Sites in terms of design. Take a look. My favorite is this one by Freelance Switch.
Trial and Error
Posted by: | CommentsThere is no greater teacher than experience.
This is especially true as you try to get your mind around all the new vehicles and tactics available to us as marketers. You can read about something, learn about something, get blown away by something, but you won’t ever really get it until you try it, screw it up, and then fix it.
That’s why this post over at Buzz Machine is so spot-on. Be sure to hit all the links, but the knockout punch of the whole post is the quote by Richard Sambrook:
There’s no better way to understand the huge changes sweeping the media than getting your hands dirty online. It’s fallen to us to reinvent the industry and we won’t do it with heads in either the sand or the clouds…
7 Great Designers I Know
Posted by: | CommentsSince design has been a popular topic on this blog for the past week or two, it hit me that I’ve had the privilege of working with quite a few great designers myself, and then I know many other great designers that I haven’t worked with. And with the onset of online portfolios and blogs, it makes checking out and admiring someone’s work very accessible.
When you understand how important a piece design is to your job as a marketer, and then you realize your role in it personally, and then you realize you can’t personally design, and then you meet someone who can, then you really, really, really appreciate these guys and what they do. And they appreciate you, if you’re doing your job.
Without further rambling, here are 7 designers you should check out:
- DennisCheatham.com: I’ve never actually done a project with Dennis, but my wife does on a regular basis. Be sure to check out his blog, too – he’s a great writer on top of being a great artist. I really like his logo design.
- Frogers.net: Again, I’ve never done a design project with Jeff Rogers, but I think his site speaks for itself. I have, however, played in a band with him – he’s a great drummer on top of being a great designer. And I’ve helped him move, and that’s always endearing, right? I don’t know how to explain his work – you just need to see it for yourself. I just know it’s good. Extremely original, refreshing, sketchy and organic. And good, again. I love this album cover.
- Raesea.com: Raesea aren’t just designers, but cover the whole ‘using the web to help your business’ thing. Design is part of that, but so is navigation, search engine optimization, email marketing, back-end architecture and programming and e-commerce. And they do all of that, and do it well.
- Brian Larney: I worked with Brian at AdvoCare. His designs are great, and the best thing about Brian is he always wanted to dig deeper, ask questions about the project, and pull information out of you that would help him. Which I loved. So many designers think they should just take the direction that’s given to them make due, but Brian knows when to ask for more. And it made everything easier for both of us. Here’s a product of one such conversation that I feel really hit the nail on the head (scroll down to the Alaskan Adventure pages).
- Hypnoweb.com: Darren Chorley and I worked on countless web projects. He’s a wonderfully gifted designer, and he knows how to work in a time crunch (and trust me, he was tested on that front more than once). I can’t sing his praises enough, and I can’t be more impressed with the work at this site.
- DanielPitner.com: Worked with Daniel for a brief time at AdvoCare. I can remember checking out his original work from his resume, and it blew me away. Daniel takes a lot of pride in what he produces, and it is always something you simply can’t simply glance at. It captures you. And his work with animation is unbelievable.
- BusyNoggin.com: Like Dennis above, I’ve never worked on a project with Ron, but my wife works with him all the time. I have played poker and eaten fondue with the man, so that should count for something. I love how he lays out his approach on his site. If you’re interested in content management, particularly TYPO3, Ron seems to be the local guru.
So, for the other great designers I know that aren’t on the list, like Josh and Benny and many others – Sorry, but I don’t have your portfolio address. Send it along if I worked with you before – just leave it in the comments. That goes for anyone, for that matter.
Battle of the Grocery Store Websites
Posted by: | CommentsI was browsing grocery store websites, and I was shocked by the differences between the Kroger website and the Albertson’s website. One of these looks a lot more professional than the other. The other looks like a college kid threw it together, and some marketing guy said “let’s throw as many resources on the home page as possible, so that people will be sure to visit the site every day, just for the education.”
I’m a Kroger fan as far as grocery stores go, and Albertson’s has been through a lot lately from a business standpoint. But if I had nothing but the website to go off of, I’d pick Albertson’s everytime.
The importance of design can be summed up in comparing these two sites.
Weekend Reading, Aug. 3-5
Posted by: | CommentsInteresting links from my browsing this weekend:
- Viruses in web ads? Say it ain’t so, Joe. Magnosticism points out that now you’ve got to think twice before you click on that sponsored banner on the side of your favorite website. What does this do for pay per click advertising (an already diminishing advertising tactic)?
- Life improvements: Here are 10 general but pretty effective ways to improve your life. My favorite quote: “Most people, even your friends and colleagues, aren’t talking about you, thinking about you, or concerned with you at all for 99% of the time.”
- Tips on web design: Jim has some simple ways to help your design suck less. Pretty practical tips – I don’t really incorporate many of them, but then again, I’m the low man on the totem pole when it comes to designing.
- More news on bottled water: The AdvoCare blog has more to share on recent developments with bottled water, specifically the crap that Aquafina (Pepsi) and Dasani (Coke) are trying to sell. Makes you wonder why we’re paying for it . . . .
- Hilarious O.J. Simpson Video: Frank shows us the recent phone calls that bombarded OJ on a recent web video show. Can someone say bad idea?
Weekend Reading, July 13- July 15
Posted by: | CommentsSome nice links I ran across over the weekend. In no particular order, of course:
- Will work for tattoos: The Happs has a nice set of links here, including an interesting read on tattoos and your job hunt. I wonder if it would help your chances to tattoo your potential boss’s name?
- Lost producer making a movie: My man Frank seems a bit obsessed with JJ Abrams’ upcoming movie, apparently due out in January. I’m a little behind on all the buzz, but Frank’s not. Here are all the posts he’s written on it so far.
- The most promising Presidential candidate yet: Have you heard of Ray Hopewood yet? You will. He’s got a lot of money and he’s making a beeline to the election polls, as you can see here on My 2 Cents.
- Stop counting Page Views: Nielsen is scrapping page views as a key measurement for a website’s popularity and giving more weight to time spent on a site. Thanks to both Steve and Raesea for pointing the way here. If getting people to spend more time on your website is the new goal, how will that change design? I guess the first question to ask, though, is do you care what Nielsen thinks? What is has done is miraculously made AOL a bigger website than Google, which you can see here at the Marketing Hipster.
- Homemade Light Saber: Good friend and frequent commenter John Harris has figured out how to make his own light-saber. Pretty dang impressive – and entertaining.
- Great new design blog: Here’s a great designer who has started a new blog that I think is going to be pretty cool. The lead-off post contains “Maxi Pad” in it, so you know you’ve found something fresh (pun intended).
Internet Marketing is Dead
Posted by: | CommentsA friend was telling me last night that he and his partner were trying to shift the focus of their company from being just a web design firm into more of an overall internet marketing firm.
[digg=http://digg.com/tech_news/Internet_Marketing_is_Dead_2]
Two things struck me when he said this which I’ve never really thought of before.
- “Internet Marketing” and all its variations are really bogus terms.
I’ve never heard of print marketing, or radio marketing. But since 2000, I’ve heard this term used quite extensively. In fact, I was at one point the Internet Marketing Manager at my company.Here’s why it doesn’t make sense: a marketer markets a product or service, and then we have to employ the right media to facilitate that marketing. And these days, the media must include the web and all the social media beacons that are launching as part of Web 2.0. And while some people really are marketing the Internet (and can therefore really be called “Internet Marketers”), the real successes will rest with those who market something remarkable and use the Internet to do it. - Marketing and design are becoming harder and harder to separate.
Because the Internet is the primary medium, and because it changes quickly, and because it is relatively cheap to use, and because it is so accessible, in many cases, the design of the web tool is as central to the marketing strategy as anything else. So if marketers don’t know a thing or two about design, and if designers are clueless about marketing, you’re going to have problems. The two must be mixed to a certain degree, now more than ever.I think all marketers should become comfortable with some basic HTML, a little DreamWeaver and even some PhotoShop. I’m trying to catch up on those right now myself. In the same way, I think designers should read through or sit in some great marketing speakers, such as Sergio Zyman, Seth Godin or Mark Miller. The companies that are taking huge strides right now in the Web 2.0 world are those led by someone who is equal parts marketer and designer, and that’s going to continue for some time.
Sorry about the ominous tone in the title of this post – I could not help myself.
Weekend Reading, March 2 – March 4
Posted by: | CommentsSome cool articles and posts I dug this weekend:
- Nice post here at WebWorkerDaily on new ways to make money online. I thought the notes on Lulu.com were extremely interesting.
- Todd And points us to this really cool billboard ad.
- Michael has a great “Note from Boss to Employee.” First, this post is awesome. Second, some idiot decided to leave a real cocky comment under an anonymous name. I commented and expressed how I feel about that, so be sure to read it.
- Scott Burns, a Dallas Morning News columnist, had this to say about Home Depot in Sunday’s paper. Interesting to see how Home Depot has fallen from grace.
